Joliet man accused again of possessing handgun modified to fire automatically

A Joliet man who was previously released from jail by a Will County judge has been arrested a second time after he was accused again of possessing a handgun modified to fire automatically.

About 2:50 p.m. Saturday, officers pulled over a Ford Fusion in the 1300 block of Waverly Place for an alleged suspended registration, according to Joliet Police Sgt. Dwayne English.

During the traffic stop, officers saw a handgun on the floor next to Donnell Brown, 20, of Joliet, who was a front seat passenger. Officers removed Brown from the vehicle and placed him into custody, English said.

Officers recovered the loaded handgun from the vehicle and saw the firearm appeared to have been modified with a switch device that makes it fire automatically, English said.

Brown was taken to the Will County jail on probable cause of unlawful possession of a machine gun, armed violence and other offenses. Court records do not yet show any formal charges against Brown.

Brown’s arrest Saturday is his second in about two weeks.

On Sept. 4, Brown was arrested as part of the Joliet Police Department’s Operation Streetsweeper. About 20 others were arrested, as well, on charges such as retail theft, unlawful drug possession, aggravated battery and aggravated discharge of a firearm.

Brown was charged with unlawful use of a modified .40-caliber Glock handgun, unlawful possession of the gun without a firearm owner’s identification card and resisting police officers.

Demetrius Houston, 25, of Park Forest, Brown’s co-defendant, also was arrested charges of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and resisting a police officer.

On Sept. 6, Will County Judge Sherri Hale had granted pretrial release for Brown and Houston under the SAFE-T Act.

While Hale determined their charges made them eligible to stay in jail, she found there were conditions that could apparently mitigate the risks posed by their pretrial release.

Prosecutors from Will County State’s James Glasgow’s Office unsuccessfully petitioned for Brown to stay in jail.

The Sept. 6 petition from prosecutors requested Brown remain in jail because he was charged with a nonforcible felony offense that requires a mandatory prison sentence and his pretrial releases poses a threat to others.

In the petition, prosecutors described the events that led to the Sept. 4 arrest of Brown and Houston. Prosecutors alleged the two men tried to flee from officers who had been tailing their vehicle.

Brown and Houston were accused by prosecutors of tossing away handguns during the police pursuit. Prosecutors alleged those handguns were modified with a switch device to fire “multiple rounds with a single motion of the finger on the trigger.”

Hale ordered Brown to remain on home confinement between 3 p.m. and 5 a.m. Monday through Friday, and to remain at his house during the entire weekend, according to her court order.

Brown also was required to not possess any firearms, ammunition or dangerous weapons.

Hale did not order Brown to submit to electronic monitoring, but ordered electronic monitoring for Houston, who previously had been convicted of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in 2018.